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The Cantonese War
The Cantonese War was a war fought between armed forces of Soothron and Hurdonia, versus the city of Canton, Thai mercenaries, and Vixetosian Spies & Military "Trainers". It lasted roughly eight years, from 1832 to 1840. It is noted as the most bloody war in Vespatian history, for any of the kingdoms, and is a topic of taboo to speak of in some parts of Vespatia. Background Information On the Vespatian archipelago, there is a lot of natural resources, but unfortunately there isn't much diversity in the resources. Vespatians wanted to expand out, and so in 1824 sent out ships in all directions. A few hit Europe, but found that they had the same resources that the Vespatians had. A few hit the Americas, but found that "European" colonization wasn't wanted. A few ships hit Africa and found that it had no resources, even though a month later gold was found in South Africa. And the last ships sent by Vespatia hit Southeast Asia, and brought back many spices, fruits, and meats that the Vespatians found very tasty. Trade routes were set up in Bangkok, Canton, Phnom Penh, Da Nang, Haiphong, Manila, Taipei, and Jakarta. Truly the Vespatians made a trade empire. It was the first joint effort the Vespatians took apon themselves, and the last to this date. In 1814, the "Zuagvoler" http://conworld.wikia.com/wiki/Vespatia#The_Zuagvoler was finished by Zuaglandish scientists, and in 1832 the word reached the city of Canton, from Vespatian merchants. South China is, historically and currently, the poorest part of China. Since it's mostly swamplands, the only product from this land that's remotely profitable is, honestly, rice. The Chinese government in Beijing couldn't care less about these people, and for good reason too, as they don't produce much of worth. The South Chinese people wanted a way to break off from the north, and the Zuagvoler was one way that they could do this, as the Mayor of Canton wrote in his diary: :Imagine, it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Beijing, all the people are going along their little lives, and then the sky darkens as a giant airship flies over them, raining cannonballs on their temples and buildings! The Cantonese asked Zuaglandish traders if they were willing to sell them the Zuagvoler. Ofcorse the Zuaglanders refused, seeing as they didn't own the Zuagvoler. The Cantonese became infuriated, and planned to take action. The Vespatian Theatre In 1832, the Cantonese government sent over three ships of pirates to raid Vespatian port cities in Vespatia, to deal a psychological blow to the Vespatian peoples. They reached Vespatia in a month or two, and raided several ports in Hurdonia and Soothron. Unfortunately for the pirates, the Soothronian and Hurdonian navies were ready to eviscerate the pirates. The pirate ships were destroyed, and minimal damage was done to the Vespatians. The Kingdoms of Soothron and Hurdonia came up with a battle strategy, and set it in motion later that year. The Cantonese Theatre 1832: Year One The "Central Powers", as Soothron and Hurdonia called their joint task force, boarded ships, sailed around Africa, and reached Hainan, an island that's owned by China, and that's near Canton. The Chinese government allowed the ships to dock there, and even offered to send it's own army in too. But the Central Powers didn't accept. The Central Powers then sailed upwards to Canton, and landed outside the city. The Hurdonians are known for their technologically based society, but they kept the best in reserve and only armed their soldiers with bolt-action rifles, revolvers, and steel helmets, which at the time was very advanced anyways. The Soothronian troops were armed with breech-loading rifles, bayonets, and kepis, standard fair for armies for the time. Canton didn't have an army, seeing as it's a city, so it's militia used melee weapons, like swords and axes. The Hurdonians came from the west, and the Soothronians came from the east. After a few skirmishes, the troops hit the city, and besieged it. After a few days of near endless cannon fire from the Vespatians, the Central Powers charged into the city. They took the east part of the city, and the town hall, but heavy resistance in the west prevented them from taking the whole city. Major fighting died down for the rest of the year. 1833-1835: Occupation The Central Powers in East Canton began to modernize the city, by building modern building and even converting some of the Cantonese to Christianity. The East Cantonese became friendly towards the Central Powers, and lived under them in harmony. In West Canton, the former Mayor of all Canton was in a sticky widget. The Chinese government wasn't going to fund them in any way/shape/form, so they needed to look elsewhere. After asking Indochina for help, which they declined because they got a lot of money from the Vespatian port cities in Vietnam, they looked to Thailand. The Thai knew that if they were to send aid to the Cantonese, they would have something to hold against them if Thailand needed money, so Thailand agreed, and formed a small guerrilla force to be sent to Canton. 1836-1837: The War Gets Interesting The Thai guerrillas hit the shores of Canton in '36, and first just targeted caravans headed for East Canton. To counter this, the Hurdonians (who were incharge of the economy) armed the caravans, which kept the Thai at bay for the time. Then a Thai fighter by the name of Boonyak lead a small force into East Canton. They took a building in the south, and started to dig a tunnel from that point to the Thai base on the outskirts. It took them a year to, and in the meantime, the Soothronians were launching raids on the Thai, taking them down one by one. By 1837, the tunnel was ready, and the remaining Thai braved the dark and dank tunnel to Canton. 1838-1839: The War on Terrorism The Thai fighters entered the city and started guerrilla fighting. The Thais were armed with breech-loading rifles, like the Soothron, and proved to be their match. The Thais used less than legal ways to kill the Vespatians, using human shields, stapping bombs to dogs, pungi stick traps, etc. One of the most famous of these traps was when a group of Hurdonian troops were on patrol, and a sign was put up that was written in Thai. Some of the soldiers knew Cantonese, but none knew Thai. So they took a Thai POW to the sign and asked him to translate it, as it could be propaganda. The POW went to the sign, and yanked hard on it. Five poisoned arrows flew out of the nearby building, and killed the men. The sign said "pull to release trap. DUCK!" Due to the massive stress of the war, and the relative cheapness of opium in China, the soldiers started to use drugs. The officers tried to stop them, but unfortunately it didn't stop. *UNDER CONSTRUCTION* Category:Events